


To The Stars and Back

by JoyVampire



Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Superheroes, University
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 16:00:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29334921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoyVampire/pseuds/JoyVampire
Summary: If you asked him, Kaito Momota would say that working at the Milky Way coffee shop was pretty normal. Fun, but normal. A cool boss, two [loud] co-workers, and two regulars he’d befriended (one of whom he may or may not have the hots for).Oh yeah. And a literal superhero appearing on the TV every breakfast & lunch rush.It’s a cool thing to see happening, the kind of thing you’d only read about in the next big shonen manga. But even with all the news coverage, the chance of Kaito getting up close and personal with them is slim to none. Knowing him, he’d be more likely to discover aliens than encounter a real-life superhero.Right?A Galacti-roll (Kaito x Maki) coffee shop AU. Kinda.
Relationships: Harukawa Maki/Momota Kaito
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	To The Stars and Back

**Author's Note:**

> At long last, I've finished my essays for university (for now) and have the time to post this!  
> This is technically a spin-off from my YouTuber AU fic Streaming Harmony, but you don't have to have read it to read this - it's a fanfic within a fanfic kind of situation. And because of this, I'll do my usual YT recommendation thing to start the story off!  
> Since I finished Streaming Harmony, we've had NeedAnotherName's "When all your waifus are dead" for SDR2, the official dub of the prologue of LINUJ's fan game Super Danganronpa Another 2, and if you're a NicoB fan, Council of Voices episode 8.  
> Okay, onto the fic! Hope you enjoy it!

Ah, the _Milky Way_ coffee shop.

What was once an old, ramshackle, university-owned teahouse with the rather unimaginative name, _The Hub_ , has since evolved into a modern yet homely café, under the management of graduate student Kirumi Tojo.

Its position on the outskirts of campus and proximity to the town centre, made it popular among students and locals alike. Whether used as a study space or a spot to unwind after a long day, you’ll never find the _Milky Way_ short of business.

One could argue that its only drawback was its size – sure, the atmosphere of the _Milky Way_ was warm, but that doesn’t change the fact that it was, for all intents and purposes, kind of small. The sheer lack of space when compared to other coffee shops, meant that conditions for the early morning and post-class rushes became overly cramped.

Right now, however? It was just before 2pm, most students returning to classes after lunch. Only a handful of non-students were left on the tables, soft chatter barely blocking out the music playing through the speakers.

“Regular white chocolate matcha latte!”

The lead barista, Kaito Momota, handed the drink to the final person in the line.

In addition to the standard uniform for the café – a lilac polo shirt with a turquoise collar and logo on the right breast – his usually gel-spiked purple hair was left to fall naturally down his face, most of it held out of his eyes by a galaxy-patterned bandana.

“Have a stellar day, ma’am!”

With a sudden lull in activity, Kaito leaned against the counter and looked in the direction of the TV. On account of the ambient music already filling the speakers, the current programme – the news – was on mute, the asynchronous black-bar subtitles filling the lower third of the screen.

_…stopped in the downtown Shibuya area, thanks to the ever-elusive figure calling themselves the Crimson Assassin. The perpetrator of this robbery, the wanted serial offender 37-year-old Kouhei Kobayashi…_

“Damn. Crimson Assassin strikes again,” he mused aloud to himself. “It’s been like two weeks since they last showed themselves. Well, ‘showed themselves’ is subjective. Kinda scary everything’s going down a few miles from here, eh Leon?”

Upon the lack of response, Kaito turned to his orange-haired co-worker, scrubbing down one of the machines, humming along to some rock music being blasted through his earbuds.

“Why do I bother?”

Kaito heard the bell above the door, grinning when he saw the new customer – a black haired young man in black smart-casual attire, a grey satchel on one shoulder.

“Hey, Shuichi!”

“Afternoon, Kaito.”

“You getting the regular today? Or do you wanna try something different?”

Shuichi examined the menu briefly. “I’ll have a hot chocolate with hazelnut flavouring, and a slice of that salted caramel cake. To go.”

“Not even getting a coffee, huh?” Kaito rang the order up. “750 yen.”

Shuichi counted out the exact amount and handed it to Kaito, slipping any loose change back into his jeans pocket. The barista closed up the till and gave his co-worker a firm punch to the shoulder.

“Hey, that hurt man!”

“Turn off your music for two minutes and do your damn job! One hazelnut cocoa.”

“Tch.” Leon tugged his earbuds out, his music still blaring loud enough for a couple of heads to turn, and got started preparing Shuichi’s drink, Kaito bagging up a slice of the cake.

“So you just making a pit stop or are you done for the day?”

“No more classes today. I just want to get home right now.”

“Rough morning?”

“It’s been back to back lectures since nine.”

“Damn, that sucks…”

“Yeah, plus an essay to finish by the end of the week. It’s been weighing down on me since the beginning of the month, and I can’t exactly put that off any longer.”

“I don’t see how you can deal with five solid hours of forensic psych babble first thing in the morning! Let alone those extra hours for your assignment!”

“Well, that’s probably because I understand it all. Like, I wouldn’t be able to get my head around all the physics you had to do.”

Kaito had not long graduated from university with a degree in astronomy & physics. In between studying, he’d been working at the _Milky Way/The Hub_ since second year, and had given Kirumi a helping hand when revamping & modernising it. He only still worked there after graduation while waiting for the right astronomy-related job to open up.

“At least that was only one part of my degree. The worst part, mind you, but one part.” Kaito pushed the slice of cake to Shuichi. “You got anything planned as a cool down?”

“Normally I’d watch a movie in my house with Kaede, but all _her_ classes today are in the afternoon into the evening. Maybe I’ll just sit on my bed and read something. I don’t know, I just need a break.”

“Well I get off work at five, so if you’re still feeling the pressure by then, you have my number!”

Shuichi picked up the cake slice, offering Kaito a polite smile. “We’ll see how the rest of the afternoon goes, but yeah, I’d like that.”

“Awesome!” A hand tapped against his shoulder. “Hm? Oh, thanks man!” Kaito took the finished drink from Leon and passed it over to his customer. “One regular hazelnut cocoa.”

“Thank you. I’ll keep in touch.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard!”

Shuichi waved at him once more as he pushed the door open, easing it from slamming behind him with his foot. Once he was out of sight, Leon leaned against the counter beside Kaito, glancing smugly in his direction with one hand against his cheek.

“Well, well…should I start planning the date? Do you prefer Italian or _yakiniku_?”

“So _now_ you pay attention to the outside world, do you?” Kaito wiped down the worktop once more. “And what, just because I actually _talk_ to the customers means I’m going out with them?”

“Dude, have you seen you and that Saihara guy? He comes in here practically every day, and even when you’re not manning the counter you _still_ find an excuse to talk to him! I’m pretty sure I saw you two at the gym together once.”

“I’m not allowed to have friends, is that it?”

“Friends, are you sure?”

“Yes, fuck.” Kaito punched his shoulder again, in the same spot, albeit in a playful manner.

“Alright, I’m just messing with you!”

Rubbing the sore spot, Leon looked up to the TV, seeing the same newscast continuing.

“Crimson Assassin?”

“Mhm.”

“Awesome! I’ve gotta see this!”

“Leon! You’re needed in the kitchen!” A female voice called from the back.

“Pff.” Leon puffed some air out of his mouth, some hairs getting blown upwards by the gust.

“Better put those earbuds away before Kirumi sees them.”

“I know…”

He shoved them deep into his jeans pocket, zipping it closed before entering the kitchen, a wild-haired female employee taking his place.

“So! How’s business looking this afternoon, Kaito?”

“Pretty quiet now. It’s the tail end of the lunch rush, so we’ll probably have easy business for two hours.”

With no one else entering, Kaito glanced behind him, noting the trash bins almost at the point of overflowing.

“Wasn’t it Leon’s turn to take out the trash?”

“Yep. Is it surprising he’s not doing his bit at this point?”

“…not really. So who’s gonna do it?”

“Let Ibuki watch the counter, ‘kay? Ibuki put days of effort into this week’s specials menu – she wants the chance to serve a few of them!”

Kaito tied off one of the trash bags, tossing it over his shoulder, carrying the other one normally. “Don’t hold your breath, no one’s ordered any of them so far today.”

… … …

Through some ridiculous circumstances involving the surroundings, there were no bins right outside for the staff to dump their litter into. Instead, whoever was on trash duty had to walk to some large receptacles on the opposite side of a road. Not such an easy job in the dark or during rush hours.

“Stupid garbage people…wouldn’t it kill them to put one tiny bin round the back of the building?”

The roads quiet, Kaito sprinted across the road and effortlessly tossed the bags into an open receptacle, when his phone buzzed in his pocket with a call.

“Shuichi, what’s up?”

“ _I think I would like to meet up for a movie night, actually._ ”

“Really? That’s awesome!”

“ _Do you know the student cinema on campus? They’re showing that new horror movie tonight if you wanted to check it out?_ ”

“Which one? The Korean one?”

“ _Yep.”_

“I dunno if I wanna watch a horror movie. Especially that one. Korean horror movies are someth-- huh?”

He’d been walking back towards the café for the whole call, when as he reached the edge of the pavement, he felt every joint in his body lock up. He was frozen, unable to move, with one foot hovering above the floor.

“ _Well, there might be an old anime re-run we can check out instead.”_

“What the hell?”

“ _Um, alright, I guess that’s a no…_ ”

“Come on…work…”

“ _Kaito, are you okay? You don--”_

The rest of Shuichi’s sentence was blocked out by the sound of a horn blaring. Milliseconds after, a loaded semi-truck – one that looked far too big to even fit on the road – came hurtling past Kaito’s position on the side with no signs of stopping.

He didn’t know what weird muscle spasm thing was keeping him from moving, but no doubt if it hadn’t happened, he’d be splattered across the road.

He saw the truck turn a corner at the end of the road, and all movement returned to his body, the sudden action causing him to fall backwards onto his ass.

Still somewhat shook from the suddenness of it all, he stayed there for a few moments, trying to catch his breath.

“ _Hello? Are you still there_?”

… … …

Having brushed himself down, Kaito eventually returned to his position behind the counter, Ibuki fixated on whatever panel show was now on TV.

 _…true, but what sets this person apart from the people they bring in? Sure, Kobayashi may have already created four casualties, until he himself *became*_ _a casualty._

_Are you suggesting they shouldn’t have bothered stopping him? Saving so many other people?_

_N-no! No! But may--_

_Yes, they used force that may be…unbecoming of a typical superhero, but they got the job done, and that’s what matters._

_*Yes*…but maybe if we weren’t automatically made to think of death whenever we see them--_

_For all…for all we know, a lethal response may have been necessary. None of us here at this panel can say for sure, can we?_

“They’re still going on about the Assassin?”

“Yep. It was only a small-scale robbery this time – why spend fifteen minutes on it with a panel discussion?”

“I know, right? It’s real life, not a goddamn superhero shounen!”

“Perhaps not,” Kirumi’s voice entered the conversation, the manager scooping up some cleaning supplies and walking towards a table. “But this Crimson Assassin is one of very few – if not the only one – of their kind. It is only natural that people feel the need to debate the pros and cons of their cases, given how much of an anomaly they continue to be.”

“You’ve got a point there.” _As usual._

The two employees watched Kirumi as she got to work on one of the back tables, cleaning around the lone student occupying it. It was a young woman with two long brown twintails going down their back. They didn’t seem fazed by the cleaning happening around them, instead focused on a book in their lap.

“Oh hey, when did Maki get here?”

“Maki? Oh! That girl? Friend of yours?”

“Yeah, she’s a final-year. Family & consumer sciences. I’m pretty sure she’s been a regular here since it was still the Hub.”

Despite being in separate years, separate classes _and_ separate extracurriculars, these two had _somehow_ became friends during Kaito’s time at university. They were two of the students lucky enough to find space in the gym, and through the sessions they had in common with each other, had started spending time together afterwards for coffee.

“So when _did_ she get here? I didn’t see her come in.”

“While you were taking out the trash.”

Leon appeared behind the two, nudging Kaito’s arm.

“So, you think you’re gonna go for some?”

Kaito pushed away a bit of his hair that grew from the bottom of his head. “Hmm, I mean she’s a cool person, but I dunno if she’s the type of person interested in romance. And besides, we’re just friends.”

“Like how you’re just friends with that other guy, hm?”

“Alright, am I supposed to be dating Shuichi or Maki? Pick one.”

Ibuki turned to the pair of them. “You two do realise you aren’t even meant to be here, right? Leon’s supposed to be working on Maki’s order, and Ibuki’s pretty sure Kaito hasn’t had a lunch break yet.”

Almost like it was waiting for someone to bring that up, his stomach loudly grumbled.

“Oh, shit! Hey, Kirumi!”

She smiled and nodded, his shouting also drawing Maki’s attention away from her book. “You can have twenty minutes this time, since it’s so late.”

“Great!” He rummaged through his pockets and slammed a note onto the counter, sliding Ibuki the pen from his apron. “Spiral fries, mocha, and…what the hell. Gimme a slice of your fruit cake.”

“Assuming Leon gets his head back in the game, coming up!”

“I’m right here!” Frowning, Leon snatched the ticket from Ibuki’s fingers and headed back to the kitchen, Kirumi following him. While Ibuki dealt with another entering customer, Kaito leapt over the counter (once he was sure Kirumi wasn’t looking – he’d be in the doghouse for a week if she saw him do that) and made his way to Maki’s table. Her head had gone back to her book, her expression one of deep concentration.

“Hey there, Maki.”

She looked up from her book as she saw him, her lips curling upwards.

“Good afternoon. I was half-expecting you to get over here sooner – I’m pretty sure your record’s something like one second.”

“Yeah, it’s probably something like that. I’m just still a bit shaken from a close encounter of the heavy-duty kind while on the garbage run.”

“Huh?”

“I was almost hit by a truck while taking out the trash.”

Her eyes widened ever so slightly. “Oh. Are you okay?”

“Yep. I’m fine. All thanks to the power of…I don’t know, divine intervention?”

“Divine…how, exactly?” Maki asked, confused.

“My whole body just froze when I got to the curb. Like, I couldn’t move anything! Then the truck came whizzing past.”

“I see…again, how?”

“I don’t even know! Power of God? Some kind of muscle spasm?” He gulped, a single bead of sweat rolling down his face. “Possession?”

The look Maki gave him carried the indication that his guesses weren’t even close to what had caused it.

“Hey, I studied astrophysics, not biology!”

“I don’t know, now I think about it, maybe possession isn’t _such_ an outlandish theory…”

“Stop it! G-ghosts aren’t real!”

“And God is?” She picked up her bag off the floor and opened it. “Well? Are you going to sit down or keep whining about the supernatural?”

Kaito dropped into the seat opposite hers, getting a glimpse of the title of her book as she put it in her bag.

“ _Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy?_ Nice choice, Maki Roll!”

“I thought so. I saw someone else on campus reading it and…well, I guess by title alone it reminded me of you.”

“It’s nice to see our relationship isn’t exclusively a Milky Way thing. You know I originally wanted us to name this place _The Restaurant at the End of the Universe_.”

“Really?”

“Unfortunately, that idea didn’t fly with Kirumi for…several reasons. Number one: copyright. Number two: too long. And number three…”

“It was a café, not a restaurant?”

“That obvious, was it?” He laughed.

“So you like this series?” Maki asked, setting her bag back on the floor. “Colour me surprised.”

“It’s hilarious, full of wit, and it takes place in space! Of course I like it! Although I think there’s a lot of stuff that gets lost in translation in our version. Mind you, even when I went back and read the original one I didn’t get much of it.”

Maki looked at him in bewilderment. “You know English then?”

“Fluent. Russian, too.”

Maki smiled. “Who would have thought I’d still be learning things about you?”

“Maybe if you met each other out of the café too, Maki would get to know even more about him!”

Ibuki appeared in between the two of them, a tray of food resting on one arm, something of a smug expression about her.

“My relationships aren’t supposed to be the business of my colleagues, Ibuki.”

“And Ibuki’s like 96% certain your business isn’t supposed to be your relationship…”

“That doesn’t count for a café!”

“Anyway, here you go! Spiral fries, a mocha, and a slice of Ibuki’s fruit cake! Orange & white chocolate sponge with dark chocolate hazelnut cream, topped with strawberries and fresh cream.”

“I didn’t need the full rundown, but thanks anyway.”

Maki’s tongue briefly flicked against her lips as she saw the cake. “Weren’t there two types of cake?”

“Mhm! The other one’s a raspberry cream cheesecake with strawberry slices, mini marshmallows, pink chocolate shavings and cream.”

“Again, if she wanted a description she could check the menu herself.”

“You interested?”

“Sure. What the hell. I’ll have a piece.”

“Awesome!” Another smug look was directed towards Kaito as she returned to the counter. “See that? People _do_ like my menu.”

“Never said they didn’t _like_ it…”

With the two being left alone once more, Kaito turned back to Maki, thinking of another conversation starter.

“So…how about that Crimson Assassin?”

“Of all the things, that’s what you pick?”

“It’s topical.”

“Sure, but _everyone’s_ talking about it. The number of times I heard those two words on the walk over here…” A plate of cake was dropped in front of her, its carrier staying out of their conversation.

“So it doesn’t interest you?”

“Not really. It’s just a hero who kills the criminals they catch. What’s to talk about? How’s it any different from what people watch on Saturday night?”

Kaito had a sip of his coffee. “I guess you’ve got a point. Maybe I should have kept asking about the book.”

The duo descended back into chatter over their coffees; one ignorant of the two staff members watching the exchange from the counter, the other purposefully ignoring them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chances are updates won't be that quick - there's still a lot of work I have to play catch-up with, but I'll do my best.  
> Hope you enjoyed this first chapter, see you next time, and stay safe wherever you are!


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